CGA News 24th February 2017
A Message From the Headteacher
Key dates
Dear Parents, Welcome to the first CGA News of this new half term. Next Wednesday 1st March is ECM Immersion Day. Students in Years 7 to 10 will be involved in lots of exciting opportunities to develop their learning outside of the classroom, including trips to the Science Museum, London Aquarium, Battersea Dogs’ Home and Boulogne. Next Wednesday also sees the start of our second set of Year 11 PPEs (Pre Public Exams). It is really important that all Year 11 students are preparing effectively for the exams by completing revision after school every day. To support this, we are now running supervised study sessions every day in the Dining Pavilion. We are also reminding all students that the Learning Resource Centre is a great place for them to be completing homework, revision and independent learning. The Learning Resource Centre is open before school from 8am and after school until 5pm Monday to Friday. As we move closer to end of year assessments for Years 7, 8 and 9 and to the external exam period, we are continuing to focus on supporting student wellbeing by holding wellbeing information evenings for parents over the next two weeks. Please do try and come along to one of these, to find out more about support available for students to promote mental and physical wellbeing. Anna Feltham
SAVE THE DATE We’re holding two wellbeing themed information events for parents. The aim of these events is to provide parents with relevant information, introduce parents to experts from agencies which work to promote physical and mental wellbeing with young people and to answer any questions parents may have. Thursday 2nd March – KS4/5 Thursday 9th March – KS3 Nightingale Hall – 5.30-6.30pm Parents welcome from 5pm for refreshments and to meet with key staff.
Attendance Matters Well done 8N and 9C for achieving 100% attendance week ending 10th Feb. Well done to form groups achieving on or above our academy target attendance of 97% in the same week: 7C / 8L, 8P, 8A / 9P, 9N / 11L, 11A, 11T, 11N / 13D Year 8 are top of the attendance league table with average attendance of 96.6%
@ClaptonGA
ClaptonGirlsAcademy
claptongirls
Mar 1
ECM Day
Mar 2
World Book Day
Mar 6
Y11 Pre Public exams begin
Mar 24
Non-Uniform Day Raising money for charity
Mar 31
End of Spring Term 12.20pm
Apr 19
Start of Summer Term
Debating Triumph Last week CGA hosted the East London round of The Oxford Debating Competition, the largest schools’ debating competition in the UK. Around 15 schools attended with about 80 students taking part altogether. Huge congratulations go to Billie Williams 11C and Tahia Ahmed 11C who will be going through to the finals of the competition held at Oxford Union on 12th March! This is the first time a team from CGA has got through to the finals of this competition. Sukie Jenkins 11L, Zainab Bhamjee13D, Leila Guedella Gomm 10P, Maisie Smith 10P and Rae Ferner Rose 10T all also competed for Clapton, showing off their amazing debating skills.
top tweets @ClaptonGA
ClaptonGirls’Academy @ClaptonGA Y9s are enjoying a motivational speech by @thereal_mrbeezy about the importance of working hard for success. #Motivation #NOGRINDNOGLORY
ClaptonGirls’Academy @ClaptonGA Our Product Design teacher, Mx Lomax leading an assembly on equality, sexual orientation & gender identity @EducateCelebrat #LGBTHM17
follow us for more of the latest news!
Work of the month
Ski Austria 36 students and 5 staff had a fabulous time on the annual CGA ski trip over half term. The trip was a great success and all students made amazing progress with their skiing – from complete beginners ending the week on a slalom run, to the advanced skiers doing vertical drops and synchronised skiing!
reminder A reminder of dates for Parents’ Evenings this term:
Mar 16
Year 7 - CLA Parents’ Evening 4.00 - 6.00pm
Mar 30
Year 7 - PTON Parents’ Evening 4.00 - 6.30pm
Apr 20
Year 8 Parents’ Evening 4.00 - 7.00pm
Year 8s learnt entrepreneurial skills at the last ECM day in January. In teams they developed a fashion brand and designed and made t-shirts and tote bags. They then pitched these to a panel of judges. We love the empowering message of this brand: “I’m not afraid to live in the limelight, I’m a girl!”
We look forward to seeing you all there!
Student Voice
Refugees Welcome Together we are a group of sixth from students who agree that Syrian refugees deserve the chance to live a normal life, and we believe that Hackney can provide that for them. In collaboration with the charity ‘City of Sanctuary’ our aim is to raise £5000 in order to help resettle a family in Hackney and give them a chance at a better, more stable life. We aim to do this by organising events in the local community and in school.
We also hope to use this campaign to spread more awareness on this subject by organising assemblies and form time activities for every year group at Clapton Girls’ Academy. To help visualise our target of £5000 we are starting to build a LEGO house; every donation received will be represented by another brick added on to the house, and hopefully by the end of our campaign we will have a whole house, representing us reaching our goal of £5000 and making a family’s dream come true. If you are interested in our campaign please visit our social media: @hackneyrefugees facebook.com/HackneyRefugeesWelcome
Hafsah Mohammed & Alex Virlan Y12
Governors’ Corner Governors and staff met with our academy partners this week to review and plan activities. These termly meetings ensure that planning is coordinated and that opportunities exist for as many students as possible to participate in activities which will enhance their knowledge and experience. Our partners have been selected to present a variety of learning and development projects. Goldsmiths University of London, Greenhouse Sports, Linklaters Law Firm and University of East London are all outstanding partners who see the value of working with CGA students Ben Fowler, Chair of Governors